7:15 AM,
Oct. 5, 2012

Written by

A couple of weeks ago when an offensive coaches meeting finally wrapped up, Mike McCarthy picked up his phone and fired a text to close friend Joe Philbin.

"Hey man, I needed you," the text playfully read. "I was all by myself."

The Ed McMahon to McCarthy's Johnny Carson during their six seasons together in Green Bay, the Packers' seventh-year coach was rarely in a meeting room without Philbin by his side, especially during the five years Philbin spent as his offensive coordinator. ...